What is nearbound product?

An integrated strategy (watch more here)

Partnerships should be an integrated part of your overarching product strategy. Partnerships are not add-ons. They’re a method for delivering on your company’s mission.

As Simon Bouchez put it in his session at the summit, 

“We don’t have a product partnership strategy. We have a product strategy.”

Let customers inform your product strategy (read more here).

A graveyard of "great partnerships” follows behind partner pros with a build it and they will come mindset. Instead, tap into customer insights. Let them tell you what they want from you. Then you can decide whether it’s best to build, partner, or buy.

When you choose the wrong partner, what will normally happen is…nothing. No adoption. No leads being shared. No business value created. — Franz Josef-Schrepf (Strategic Partnerships at StreamYard)

Integrations are table stakes (read more here)

Customers expect your product to integrate with their stack. Recently Scott Brinker shared the results from a survey of 500+ marketing ops professionals. They were asked: What are your most important criteria when evaluating new marketing technology?

The #1 answer — by a massive margin — ’Ability to integrate to existing and new technology.’

Great product never beats great go-to-market, and great go-to-market never beats great ecosystem (read more here)

Building the best product is great, but winning in a big ecosystem is the most important. Here’s a classic example: Slack was winning the market until Microsoft rolled out Teams to everyone in their ecosystem. Slack didn’t have a chance!

How to do nearbound product

Navigating the build, buy, or partner conversation (watch more here)

The build, buy, or partner conversation is critical to the success or failure of a company. Alone, that decision can change the trajectory of companies. And this conversation is dynamic, meaning you can use small partnerships as phase one in a larger plan to develop a strategic alliance or even get acquired. Listen to R.J. Filipski (Clari), Laura Padilla (Sapphire Ventures), and Iris Ng (Qualtrics) share their thoughts from the summit.

How to do integrations like Chili Piper (read more here)

Chili Piper shifted its view from partners as a channel and lead source to partnerships as an overarching strategy. They focused on integrations and created short-, medium-, and long-term plans: one for quick gains, another to fill customer needs through integrations, and a final one for experimental partnerships. The short-term plan aimed to maximize existing partnerships, the medium-term to bridge customer gaps, and the last to test new partnerships. Listen to Alexis Petrichos share the story at the summit.

How one company leverages the power of a large ecosystem (read more here)

Good leaders are always asking, “How do we scale given our limited resources?” Connor Jeffers and the leadership at hapily are exclusively building inside of the HubSpot ecosystem for three reasons: Hubspot’s evolving fast, it allows hapily to tap into intel at scale, and HubSpot solves many of their customers’ problems for them. 

More nearbound product resources

• A Study in HubSpot’s Ecosystem and Partner Maturity

• Why the Build, Buy, or Partner Decision Might Require a Chief Partner Officer

• How to Build In An Ecosystem

• How Our Product Team Is Thinking About Partnerships in 2024 with Simon Bouchez

• Why You Must Integrate to Differentiate Your Product (And How)

• Partner Led Product Strategy with Ben Wright and Bryan Williams

• An Ecosystem Strategy to Evolve from a Product to a Platform
   

• "Powered By" Partnerships Are Smashing Records

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.

• TOMORROW—Jan 3rd, 2 PM EST—How Technology Partnerships are Key for SaaS Company Growth—Join Scindia Balasingh (Head of Global Marketing Partnerships at Multiplier) and Scott Pollack (CEO at Firneo) as they unlock the potential of strategic technology partnerships in the SaaS industry! Register here.

• January 25th— CEO Summit—Join Pavilion and many more companies to be part of expert-led educational sessions, covering top-of-mind issues for CEOs and Founders. Learn about the latest sales insights, building a pricing strategy, and co-selling. Register here. 

• Feb 5th-7th in Miami—Impartnercon 2024—Partnerships are the future of growth. Join partner leaders to learn what it means to build the future of business, together. Register here.

• March 19-20th—Affiverse’s Amplify Summit—Join them for a 2-day virtual event to help affiliate businesses amplify their performance. Learn about digital, partnership, and affiliate marketing. Register here. 

Partner + product = unstoppable

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